A stunning villa in an astonishing location with the most breath-taking views, perfect tranquillity and only five minutes drive into town. This is an extraordinary 3-bedroom 2-bathroom villa in Sax on the mountain of Pena Rubia with very good access, the last 500 metres is not tarmac-covered but it does not require a 4x4 or a high-wheelbase car. Naturally, there are remote-controlled gates into a fenced area around the property and the beautiful low maintenance gardens. There is a lot more land but it is separated and holds around 320 olive trees, and the owners have a gardener who harvests the olives and maintains them each year. There are very few villas that are actually thought out for the way you will live in Spain with around 80% of your time outside, a complete reversal for those of you from Northern Europe. The design and floorspace is superbly done so that you can keep cool in the summer and allow the winter sunshine to naturally warm the conservatory. The pool area is for entertaining and with the iconic castle of Sax lit up in the distance the views in the evening are equally breath-taking. Around the pool are two very sturdy pergolas and a summer kitchen with a BBQ and a bar. Lots of terracing and no nearby neighbours, so eat, drink and dance until the early hours. Alternatively, for people of my age, read a book in the sunshine or shade until you slowly nod off for an hour or two. The conservatory is where so much interior time is spent just looking out across your land and the beautiful valley to the mountain top 13th century castle and two other mountain ranges for which you have access from your property for hiking, walking, riding, dogs and the list goes on. In to the house there is a lovely, small hallway which separates the living areas and the sleeping areas which is something I love. No doors into bedrooms from the lounge or bathrooms off the kitchen. Talking of kitchens, this one is modern and fully fitted and the size is typically Spanish as so much of the cooking at a Spanish property is done outside either in the summer kitchen or the BBQ. Another feature I love is a separate lounge and dining room. The lounge has a feature log burning fireplace and a feature full length window to take in those views. Quite honestly, if you sit down in the lounge you cannot help but gaze outwards whilst everything can go on around you without you even noticing. The dining room is spacious and light and can be entered from the hallway and also, for convenience, from the kitchen. There is a patio door out to the pool area as well. A passageway entered via a door from the hallway takes you to a modern family bathroom and two double bedrooms and then to the master bedroom with en-suite bathroom. The property is in the most excellent condition as has been enjoyed immensely by the owners, who now are at a time when they want to be closer to their family in Alicante. They are the most delightful couple and on meeting them you will get a feel for the property as it has both flow and love. Mains electricity and water and oil central heating as well as Air Conditioning. Basically, the villa has everything and it is ideal as a holiday home or for full time living. Outside again, where there is a garage with an up and over door and a carport as well as a utility shed. Why Sax? There are no traffic lights, it has a 13th-century castle, one of seven on the castle route but ours is the best and there are no traffic lights, parking meters or fee-paying car parks. What? That isn´t enough? Sax is so popular because it is far enough inland to be “inland” yet it is only 30 minutes to Alicante Airport and 35 minutes to the beach. Access is by the A31 Dual Carriageway Alicante to Madrid Autovia (Motorway to you) which runs just outside of the town, by rail and coach from Alicante so you can go to the beach and not have to take your car, and now we are only eight minutes drive away from the AVE station at Villena. The AVE is the high-speed train from Alicante to Madrid which has only four stops. From boarding the train will have you in Madrid in 2hrs 9mins for as little as 9€ if you are lucky enough, but around 25€ if not. Let us stick with the town of Sax for now rather than escaping to the beach or Madrid. Sax is dominated by its 13th-century castle known as the Headlight And Guardian Of The Border a landscape of history and rock. When driving back home to Sax after daylight the sight of the castle, fully lit, and seemingly floating in the air is one of the most welcoming sights I have ever experienced. It´s a sign we are almost home. Commercially, is the home of three major international businesses selling “persianas y toldos”, window blinds and sun canopies and a shoe industry that means if you recently bought a pair of shoes in a UK Department Store, for example, the chances are they could have been made in Sax or nearby Elda and we now supply 60% of the footwear used in all Spain´s hospitals. It is an incredible feat. No pun intended. Both Sax and the smaller town of Salinas just eight minutes drive away have close to full employment and lots of opportunity which means our crime statistics are very low and both towns are safe in a way that is hard to imagine if you have arrived from the UK or Holland. Walking around whatever time of day or night is a pleasure rather than something to fear. Sax is small enough for everyone to know each other and a family who has a son or daughter who is a criminal brings shame on the family. I suppose it´s like when I was growing up in the North West during the 60´s. Recently we have seen the opening of a Consum supermarket, the equivalent of a Waitrose or Marks & Spencer Food Hall whilst there has been a Hiperber and Dia, both excellent supermarkets for as long as I can remember, and if that isn´t enough there is a Carrefour (Think Tesco) eight minutes’ drive away within a shopping mall complex that has a cinemas which shows films in English with Spanish subtitles. There are also six gyms in Sax and a superb one in the shopping mall along with Ten Pin Bowling etc Sushi Restaurant and many others. Sax is served wonderfully well with schools, our son was eight when we moved here and reluctantly, we put him into a state school, he always went to a private school in Manchester, and within six months he was fluent in two languages and following five years in a secondary school went on to study Pharmacy at Complutense in Madrid one of Spain´s most famous and prestigious universities. However, he didn´t like the idea of going into pharmacy as a career so he is studying law and working as my business partner. He already has a diploma in Spanish Property Law. For health, Sax and Spain, in general, is far superior to the UK. In the town, we have a new Health Centre with eight doctors, two nurses, a diabetes clinics and a 24/7 Emergency Walk/In Centre. We have three pharmacies, two of which have at least one person who speaks English and their advice is always excellent. Ten minutes away in Elda is the remarkable award-winning University Hospital El Virgen De Salud where the surgeons are second to none and the food is atrocious, well it can’t all be good!! Newly opened is the Fibromyalgia centre offering support and therapies for those suffering from acute pain. There are now three Language Schools in the town and the town hall ran a scheme for language swapping that may be run again. Learning Spanish is a lot less difficult than it may seem and there are new ways of learning that concentrate on conversational Spanish. There are restaurants and bars aplenty with prices that are at first beyond belief and a three or four-course lunch of good quality can easily be found for 13€ or less. For a special occasion, there is Casa Mami and El Fuente restaurant at the hotel Fuente del Cura which are a little more expensive but great food experiences can be had. Nearby Villena, ten minutes or so up the A31, has some excellent restaurants including the very fashionable Tita´s Gastrobar and the stunning, in my opinion, Condumio. In Elda, ten minutes in the other direction there is Xambel, Xhagar, Fabrica, La Sirena and Tenaz, all very good restaurants and surprisingly inexpensive. In most bars and cafes a coffee and toast for breakfast will cost no more than 2,50€ and the coffee is possibly the best in Europe. Our biggest challenge these days is finding properties as opposed to selling them as Sax and Salinas as both have become incredibly popular as there are very few building permits left in either of the towns and yet they are growing. So, come look around and enjoy.
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